The first act to perform was Rebel Diaz. My expectations were to hear some hip hop with some Latin influence, based on their appearance, but I was mistaken. All of their lyrics were in Spanish and rapped at a speed that I could not understand. I took Spanish in my high school days, but I am somewhat rusty to say the least. So as an Englishman (along with my Englishwoman company) it was not my cup of tea. From what I could understand and interpret, it was also more political hip hop than is to my liking. I prefer to keep my political views and music separate. If I want to hear about politics, I would watch the news, but instead I do not.
After a brief intermission and the usual technical difficulties period that featured jokes from ‘Toine (one half of DTMD), DTMD performed. DTMD is a hip hop duo that features ‘Toine who raps and Dunc who produces. The DTMD stands for Dunc and ‘Toine Makin’ Dollars. Excuse the jargon, but that is how they spell it. This was the main reason I decided to come because I enjoyed their first EP, The Basics. They performed many tracks off the EP including “You” and their personal tribute to music producer J. Dilla, “Fantastic.” ‘Toine also gave us a verse from a track off their upcoming second release, Makin’ Dollars, before Dunc cut it short to keep the anticipation building until the release hits the Internet waves.
The headline performer was Ana Tijoux, and she carried herself as one from the start. She was yet another artist who recited all her lyrics in Spanish, but I could get a better feel for her music than I could for Rebel Diaz’s by the way she performed on stage. I was not alone in enjoying her, as the crowd went into an uproar as she was leaving the stage. The crowd chanted “ENCORE!” and banged on the ceiling (the tall guys) to get her to perform a few more songs, and she responded as an elegant artist and performed a few more songs before leaving again.
Overall, the show was out of my element but appreciated to get my fix of a live performance along with a Spanish lesson.
